The present invention relates to furniture systems in which a furniture unit such as a work surface or cabinet is hung on some type of support. Typical supports comprise slotted standards. The furniture unit includes hooks which hook into the slots to hold the unit in position on the slotted standards.
To keep the unit from being inadvertently bumped upwardly and thereby cause the hooks to disengage the slots and the unit to fall to the floor, manufacturers sometimes provide the furniture unit with a lock which locks the unit in position on the support. The lock is typically biased toward engagement with another slot in the slotted standard. Thus, as one lifts the unit to its position and hooks the hooks into their receiving slots, the lock is biased into position in engagement with another slot.
The problem with such systems is that once the unit is mounted and locked into place, it is extremely difficult to move the unit to another position or to another support. The furniture units themselves are typically heavy. It is extremely difficult for a single person to pull back on the lock, hold it in an unlocked condition, and simultaneously lift the furniture unit up and pull it out away from the support. The lifting and then outward motions are required in order to disengage the hooks from the slots.
As a result, the use of locks in such systems actually tends to detract from the mobility for which the systems are designed in the first place.